If answer to any of these is YES , then: will Mark5 banks be swapped (happens on schedule change) or modules moved (happens during system check time) during your shift?

Schedules

All schedule files for the period from A1401 to A1415 should already be prepared and ready to use before your shift. However, if you are starting APSG34 or R1653, you will need to make the usual schedule file preparations.

The schedule files are written such that the same source is observed at the same sidereal time every day, so the actual schedule changes are NOT at the same UT every day and do not exactly match the IVS schedule. In order to facilitate smooth transition, each schedule must be modified well before its start to accommodate automatic start of the subsequent schedule. For that, a line must be added in the end:

Below is a table summary of all schedules with start/stop times and system checks over the 15 days of AUSTRAL observing.

Schedule

Start DOY

UT Start

UT Stop

System checks?

A1401

247

04 Sep, 04:00:00

05 Sep, 03:51:00

Hb, Ke, Yg

A1402

248

05 Sep, 03:56:04

06 Sep, 03:47:04

Ht

A1403

249

06 Sep, 03:52:08

07 Sep, 03:43:08

Hb, Yg

A1404

250

07 Sep, 03:48:12

08 Sep, 03:39:12

Ke, Ht, Ww

A1405

251

08 Sep, 03:44:16

09 Sep, 16:00:00

Ke, Hb, Yg, Ht

APSG34

252

09 Sep, 17.30.00

10 Sep, 18.59.00

A1405A

253

10 Sep, 19:00:00

11 Sep, 03:27:24

Ke, Hb, Yg

A1406

254

11 Sep, 03:32:28

12 Sep, 03:23:28

Yg, Ht, Ww

A1407

255

12 Sep, 03:28:32

13 Sep, 03:19:32

Ww, Hb, Yg

A1408

256

13 Sep, 03:24:36

14 Sep, 03:15:36

Yg, Ke, Ht

A1409

257

14 Sep, 03:20:41

15 Sep, 03:11:41

Ke, Hb

A1410

258

15 Sep, 03:16:45

15 Sep, 16:00:00

Yg, Ht

R1653

258

15 Sep, 17.00.00

16 Sep, 18.59.00

Ww

A1410A

259

16 Sep, 19:00:00

17 Sep, 03:03:49

Ke, Hb

A1411

260

17 Sep, 03:08:53

18 Sep, 02:59:53

Yg, Ht

A1412

261

18 Sep, 03:04:57

19 Sep, 02:55:57

Hb

A1413

262

19 Sep, 03:01:01

20 Sep, 02:00:00

Yg, Ke, Ht

A1414

263

20 Sep, 02:57:05

21 Sep, 02:48:05

Ww

A1415

264

21 Sep, 02:53:09

22 Sep, 02:44:09

Module usage

Please pay particular attention to when the modules need to be changed at each station as they are not all the same.

When you change the module, please put the VSN of the new module and your name in the corresponding column. If you need to change modules unexpectedly, please also put the VSN you use for the corresponding experiment so Imogen knows where the data is and can rearrange the module schedule to compensate.

To edit this spreadsheet, please log in to hbobserver@gmail.com and edit it through the Google Drive

Monitoring observations

Please carry out the regular two-hourly checks as normal during the observations.

Send off the log files to IVS. Refer to the page Prepare the comments file and transfer the logs for details. Note that all modules for AUSTRAL experiments from Yarragadee and Katherine are shipped to Hobart, and all AUSTRAL data are eTransfer-ed to Curtin for correlation.

System checks and module changes

About an hour every few days at each antenna are planned for system checks and module or bank swaps. IMPORTANT! These have not been put in the schedule so if you miss a check, the schedule will continue as normal. However, you do need to interrupt the schedule to do the check. The procedure for the check is the same as for CONT14.

IMPORTANT! When stopping for system checks, please be ultra-paranoid to make sure recording has stopped after typing ‘halt’ and that the disks are idle. Check if the recording is running, for example, with the command

mk5=dot?

If responce to the command contains 'FHG_on', recording is active, terminate with

disk_record=off

and check again. 'FHG_off' indicates that recording is off.

The safest way to resume the schedule after the checks (or module swaps) is with either:

schedule=<schedule_name>

which will execute the next schedule command that’s at least 5 min into the future, or, if you know which line of the snap file to start on (N):

schedule=<schedule_name>,N

Suggested times for the check are listed in a table below:

Important! all times and dates are given in UT, please check local time! UT midnight is 10AM local time for Hobart.

Important! System check times vary when there is no module change in order to preserve data quality during those hours. “Unusual” times are marked in bold. Be carefu!